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Downsizing to a smaller home can be a very stressful and emotional experience. You family home holds so many memories and letting go of that stage in your life can be heart-breaking. Making the experience as easy and smooth as possible is vital for your own sanity and this blog aims to help you with each process from making the decision to looking towards the future with a positive outlook. Take a deep breath and let’s talk about downsizing.

Many people in the world have the same basic dream when they’re younger. They want to be successful, they want a loving family, and they want to live in a big, safe house with a nice yard, a picket fence, smack dab in the middle of a niche neighborhood. The home of your dreams is something you will undoubtedly try to make a reality at different points throughout your life.

Property in the UK increased in value by an average of 3.1 per cent between October 2012 and October 2013. However, while the UK as a whole is witnessing signs of life, the property market in the North East is seeing a slow recovery.

According to a survey carried out by high street mortgage provider, Halifax, as seen in The Guardian, house prices have risen by 6.9% since October 2012. This is said to have been fuelled by the early release of the Government’s Help To Buy scheme.

Ever since the emergence of e-commerce, a lot of us have ditched the shops in favour of ordering online from the comfort of our homes. In fact, as The Guardian reports, internet shopping is set to account for the biggest proportion of sales yet.

You may be familiar buying our clothes and even groceries on the internet, but have you ever considered buying a property online? Advancements in technology have made this possible, so here is everything you need to know.

One of the most basic yet difficult decisions when buying your first home is deciding whether to purchase a new-build or an older property. You can decide beforehand in order to streamline the selection process, but you can also use pros and cons to determine the best option when weighing up one type of property against another post viewing.

Once upon a time, robo-houses were staples of sci-fi films. A signifier of the rapid technological advancements our society was making, the robo-house was an expression of our fears as to where such developments would take us.

If you’re either looking to build a new home or restore/extend your existing property, then you will need to invest in an architect to get the right advice for carrying out this work. You may already have some ideas in mind or you may be confused about where to start but an architect can help bring your ideas and tastes together to create the perfect design.

Online property portals now the most popular home search method. Are traditional estate agents a thing of the past?

The way that people now search for their home has changed dramatically in the last decade. Whereas years ago the estate agent would be the first point of call, now the majority of potential buyers don’t even need to leave home to begin their search.

In our first blog in this series we discussed the initial steps you should take when looking for a second home in Spain. This blog continues with advice on taking out a mortgage on your new venture.You will find out information on lenders and different types of mortgages with specific advice on Spanish property sales.

Help to Buy, in its pure form, was designed to stimulate the housing market and specifically the building industry. In theory, enabling people to buy new build property would kick start and invigorate the industry – and that’s a good thing.Read the rest of this entry »